Midmarket: Five Killer Smartphones for SMBs

Five Killer Smartphones for SMBs

by Nathan Eddy

For the small business owner on the go, accessing e-mail, the Web and a host of other applications from a mobile phone is essential. Wading into the smartphone market place can be a little overwhelming: Deciding which smartphone works best with your server for e-mail pushing, how much battery life you might need and, of course, the "cool" factor everyone craves, even when they say they don't. When choosing a smartphone, you need to keep in mind what kind of e-mail you need to access: BlackBerry, Microsoft Windows Enterprise, IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), POP (Post Office Protocol), which includes Gmail or any others. Thankfully, most smartphones today can handle multiple e-mail systems, but not all do. Others desire sleek Web browsers or strong multimedia capabilities. Some people, myself included, wouldn't even consider a smartphone that offers only a mini-USB portal for headphones (more on that later). In the end, it often comes down to personal aesthetics and impressions, but here's a list of five smartphones than any SMB owner would be interested in.

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.